HANDS OF A MASTER: Arturo Guevara stands near one of the pieces that will be on display at the new gallery and skin art studio being opened in Laguna Beach Friday by father and son Arturo and Art Guevara.

UP AND COMING: Cambria Guevara shows some of the small pieces she has painted for the new gallery in Laguna Beach.

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HIS OWN STYLE: Art Guevara and two of the pieces he created with a Lucha Libre poster from Mexico. Art by four generations of the Guevara family will be featured in a new Laguna Beach gallery.

FATHER'S ART: Four generations of the Guevara family - Jesus, left, Arturo, Art and Cambria - plan to celebrate the opening of their new art gallery and tatoo studio in Laguna Beach Friday.

Arturo, a San Juan Capistrano artist, followed in the footsteps of his father who was an artist and mechanic. Arturo’s son, Art, a Mission Viejo resident and father, became an artist as well.

The three Guevaras have traveled all the way to Mexico City to display their art. They spent many years painting murals and donating art to people in need.

Six years ago, Arturo feared those happy times would be gone forever due to a random violent act.

“Who would think he would be shot in such a very stupid way?” Arturo asked.

His son, Art, survived a bullet wound that cut beneath his ribs and through his intestines. He also survived a post-surgery infection that kept him in the hospital for another month following the shooting.

Now Art remembers how his father spent that month with him in an overcrowded Los Angeles hospital room, a place where war surgeons learn to stitch up bullet wounds.

“It was good just knowing somebody was there,” Art said. “It was just the knowing. It was amazing – I don’t know where he slept because there was no room in that place.”

On Friday, Art will open True Fate Skin Art and Gallery in Laguna Beach. He said he is continuing his father’s dream of owning an art gallery. Art intends to offer tattoos at the gallery with the city’s approval later this summer.

Art says his approach to art is completely different from his father’s. The son says his style is more contemporary.

“My dad’s style and the people he knows are a complete coin-flip to the people I know and my style,” Art said. “If we can bring those two worlds together, it will be a beautiful thing.”

Arturo’s father, on the other hand, makes “real Mexican art” according to his son.

Arturo believes involving kids in art helps keep them out of trouble.

“Any kind of art will keep your kids in good behavior,” Arturo said. “They don’t go into gangs, they don’t go into killing people. If kids dream and pursue their careers, they can be whoever they want.”